Posts archive for August, 2014

Corporate training company biz-group is set to change the way employee education is undertaken in the Middle East with the launch of Axonify. The web-based training solution combines the latest research in brain science with game mechanics to significantly improve knowledge retention rates and business impact.

Axonify will be delivered across the GCC exclusively by biz-group, the Middle East’s leading corporate training, teambuilding and business strategy company. The innovative online knowledge reinforcement platform is a first for the region and is already being used by an increasing number of Fortune 100 companies and multinationals such as GE Energy, Bloomingdale’s and Toys”R”Us.

“The increasing knowledge around brain science is driving the way we deliver learning and is set to ensure training moves away from the traditional classroom structure to a lighter touch, with frequent interventions. This is supported by research that highlights 90 percent of information is being leant on the job, however, 80 percent of training budgets in the Middle East are still allocated to traditional classroom based methods. This is because, until now, there hasn’t been a solution that could reinforce learning and deliver measurable results,” said Hazel Jackson Founder and CEO of biz-group.

The Eyedro Monitor is a relatively easy-to-install digital home device, and a free Web app offers a wealth of reporting options including hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly electricity usage and estimated costs. You only get three sensors with the Eyedro Business kit and two with the Home kit ($199), so if you want to monitor multiple circuits, you’ll have to cough up another $99, $139, or $189 for the 1-sensor, 2-sensor, or 3-sensor expansion models (respectively). However, the sensors’ bulky size may limit how many you can fit inside your electrical panel. That aside, the Eyedro is a great system for monitoring just how much electricity your various devices are using.

Design and InstallationThe folks at Eyedro sent me a Business kit (EBWEM1), which includes a wireless gateway module, a wireless sensor module, an Ethernet cable, a Quick Start guide, two power adapters, and three 200A sensors (400A-5,000A sensors are available for businesses that require more capacity). They also sent along an expansion kit that included 3 sensors, a power adapter, and a wireless sensor module.

Smaller than a deck of cards, the gateway module measures 0.8 by 2.7 by 2.7 inches (HWD) and has a LAN port and a jack for the power adapter. The sensor module is the same size as the gateway module and has three sensor inputs and a jack for the power adapter. The wireless modules are not Wi-Fi enabled; they communicate with each other via a proprietary mesh network with up to a 1,000-foot range, which means you can install the gateway module close to your router (the sensor module must be installed at the electrical panel, which in my house is located in the basement).

When former BlackBerry Ltd. employee Peter Mankowski became the latest casualty of the struggling technology company’s corporate restructuring, he didn’t spend a lot of time mourning his old job.

The 50-year-old scientist took his severance package and dipped into his RRSPs to help fund his own startup, CLEO Collar, a wearable pet technology firm inspired by his love of animals.

Since Mr. Mankowski’s job ended in the first week of June, the CLEO Collar CEO has put together a team of 20 employees, including three other ex-BlackBerry engineers, to work with him to develop and sell the electronic hardware device. It allows pet owners to remotely track the location and vital signs of their cat or dog.

“I always had this voice in my heart. I didn’t just want to build phones,” says Mr. Mankowski, who spent four years working at Waterloo, Ont.-based BlackBerry. His last title there was technical team lead for advanced connectivity, until his research division was shut down.

BlackBerry, Canada’s best-known technology company, has laid off more than half of its employees in the past few years – shedding roughly 10,000 workers since 2011 – as it dukes it out with Apple Inc. and other providers in the highly competitive smartphone space

Mr. Mankowski is one of several ex-BlackBerry employees who have decided to stick it out in the Waterloo region and start their own companies, instead of being lured away by other technology firms in Canada, the United States and other parts of the world.

Will introduce loyalty programs powered by LoyaltyMatch at its four venues

Kitchener, Ont. – August 12, 2014 – The Blue Note Entertainment Group (BNEG), which owns and operates live music venues including the world-famous Highline Ballroom in New York City, is partnering with LoyaltyMatch Inc, the leaders in entertainment venue loyalty program platforms, to create programs that will be available later this year to the hundreds of thousands of consumers BNEG touches annually through music.

BNEG venues have hosted the greatest names in the music industry for more than 30 years and have been pioneers in bringing the culture of jazz, and blues as well as many other genres of music, to the USA and abroad. The company reaches a wide demographic of consumers by maintaining a unique style for each of its venues, securing exceptional acts across all music genres and consistently delivering great food and service.

“When we opened our first club, the Blue Note Jazz Club, in 1981 our only thought was to present great artists and to offer our patrons outstanding services and products,” said Blue Note president and owner Tsion Bensusan. “We now reach nearly half a million people a year, many of whom come back to us again and again. We believe they should be rewarded for that loyalty. Working with LoyaltyMatch will enable us to start doing so quickly and cost effectively.”

About LoyaltyMatch Inc. LoyaltyMatch Inc. is a privately held loyalty and engagement-computing company that provides a cloud-based loyalty management and gamification platform. It offers the fastest path to the development and delivery of loyalty and engagement initiatives revolutionizing the way businesses manage customer value. LoyaltyMatch customers include I.M.P. Productions, Clarins USA, Digital Currency Systems and Rewards Lunatics! LoyaltyMatch Inc. is based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

About Blue Note Entertainment GroupBlue Note Entertainment Group owns and operates the Blue Note Jazz Club, B.B. King Blues Club, the Highline Ballroom and The Howard Theatre . BNEG has hosted some of the greatest names in the music industry and was a pioneer in bringing the culture of jazz, as well as many other genres of music, to the USA and abroad. Marquee artists from Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Carlos Santana to Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Amy Winehouse have all been swayed by the unique ambiance of the Highline Ballroom.

Canadian robotics company named company of the year – manufacturing

Kitchener, ON, Canada – August 18, 2014 Clearpath Robotics has been named the winner of a Silver Stevie® Award in the Company of the Year category in the 11th Annual International Business Awards.

The International Business Awards are the world’s premier business awards program. More than 3,500 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Company of the Year, Website of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, and Executive of the Year, among others. Clearpath Robotics won in the Company of the Year category for Manufacturing.

“There is a lot of opportunity in the robotics market and it’s a very exciting time to be in this new age of manufacturing,” said Bryan Webb, COO at Clearpath Robotics. “We’ve got a great team of people here who enable us to deliver quality solutions and we’re incredibly honoured to receive this prestigious award.”

“We congratulate all of the Stevie winners in this year’s IBAs,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “The quality of entries we receive improves every year. This year’s judges were rewarded with the opportunity to review more than 3,500 stories of business achievement and innovation from around the world. We look forward to celebrating the winners’ achievements in Paris on 10 October.”

Nicknamed the Steviesfor the Greek word for “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala awards banquet at the Westin Paris – Vendôme Hotel in Paris, France on 10 October. Details about The International Business Awards and the lists of Stevie Award winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA

About Clearpath Robotics

Clearpath Robotics, a global leader in unmanned vehicle robotics for research and development, is dedicated to automating the world’s dullest, dirtiest, and deadliest jobs. The Company serves robotics leaders in over 30 countries worldwide in academic, mining, military, agricultural and industrial markets. Recognizing the value of future innovation, the Company proudly supports programs that facilitate growth within the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Clearpath Robotics provides robust solutions that are engineered for performance and designed for the customer – we are your unmanned experts. Visit Clearpath Robotics at www.clearpathrobotics.com, follow us on Twitter@clearpathrobots or like us on Facebook.

About the Stevie AwardsStevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The International Business Awards, The American Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. The sixth program, the German Stevie Awards, opens for entries on 18 August. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com

Founded in 2009, Capacity Canada offers a range of services to help charitable non-profits build capacity to change direction or take on new programs.

More than 2,000 Board Leaders and Executive Directors/CEOs have attended Capacity’s Manulife Board Governance Boot Camp and other training sessions. MatchBoard, a Manulife-Capacity partnership, has prepared about 70 Manulife executives in the region for volunteer roles on the boards of non-profits.

In June, MatchBoard moved outside the region for the first time, launching a pilot program for executives at Manulife’s headquarters in Toronto.

In addition, Capacity:

-Advises on evaluation methods to improve the services and operations of agencies; -Offers peer-to-peer mentoring for non-profit executive directors; -Helps non-profits raise their profile in the community through text and video storytelling; -Provides innovative educational events on a broad range of topics that stimulate social change. (more…)

Waterloo-based robotic vehicle manufacturer Clearpath Robotics is the first robotics company to sign on with the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots “an international coalition of non-governmental organizations working to ban fully autonomous weapons.”

The aptly-named Campaign To Stop Killer Robots seeks legislation and regulation that would block people from having access to or creating robotic weapons that can make decisions to kill without human intervention.

As the main conceit behind the campaign goes, “giving machines the power to decide who lives and dies on the battlefield is an unacceptable application of technology.”

Meghan Hennessey, marketing communications manager at Clearpath, told Business Insider, “I came across the campaign, and [company CTO and co-founder] Ryan Gariepy was on board with their ideas. We’re the first company in the robotics industry to step forward on this issue.”

Clearpath is a five-year-old company gaining massive traction in research and development for unmanned robotics. Its client list is impressive, boasting names like the Canadian Space Agency, Google, and MIT. Most interestingly, this list also includes the Department of National Defense and the Navy — exactly the entities that might want a fully autonomous weapon that can function without a human operator.

“Even though we’re not building weapons now, that might become an opportunity for us in the future,” said Hennessey. “We’re choosing to value our ethics over potential future revenue.”

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